Q&A: Product Designer and Creator of Ceramic Speaker, Joey Roth

Roth announced the ceramic Subwoofer earlier this year. It is intended to be a complement to his Ceramic Speakers.

Designer Joey Roth is building a design business one beautiful object at a time. At first glance, the San Francisco native's work — which spans teapots to computer mice — seems somewhat all over the place. But take a step back, put them next to each other and squint your eyes and you'll see the hints of a clear line pulling them all together.

Roth says his favorite work is about "designing tools for ephemeral experiences," whether that's listening to music, having tea, or getting lost in the woods. As a designer, his aesthetic is typified by un- or lightly- finished materials.

Recently Roth added another object to his strange family of products: a subwoofer to complement his Ceramic Speakers. Wired Design got in touch with Roth to talk about his work, his business, and what it means to be a hustler.

Roth's Compass was made in collaboration with Shwood in Portland, Oregon. It's a nice piece of ornamentation with a serious side; the actual compass part of the piece is a Francis Baker survival compass (NATO inventory item NSN 6605 99 522 0223), built to military specifications and intended for use in the field.

Wired: Why did you decide to become a design entrepreneur?

Joey Roth: I used to say that I had no intention of starting my own company until Cool Hunting posted some stuff from my college portfolio, and I started to get e-mails asking about where to buy. That experience fortified my resolve, but I always knew that I had to do my own thing. I also had to improve the state of the thing I would do, which is why I gave up fiction writing in college and switched to design. I found the limit of my writing talent, and it wasn't even close to other authors I was reading. I haven't yet found it with design, and I hope to never.

Roth's Sorapot was one of his first big successes. It's no longer for sale, though Roth says he's working on an updated version based on feedback from customers, tea nerds, and his own new ideas. On the product page Roth devotes nearly as much text to the design of packaging as to the product itself.

Wired: How do you pick your next product?

Roth: I have a backlog of design ideas, to which I'm constantly adding. The decision to move forward with a design is a function of my interests and capabilities at that moment. Since I release few new designs each year, I have to be obsessed if I'm going to move it into production. If I don't have to force myself to sleep instead of sketching, reading forums (full of tea or audio nerds, for example) and planning launch strategy, the idea is shelved. Similarly, I shelve an idea if I don't have the knowledge or capital to bring it to production. I put a digital camera design on hold for this reason, even though I was fully obsessed.

Roth's mouse is made of layers of fabric, wood and metal. Underneath it all is a real laser mechanism. So far, it's just a prototype.

Roth: There's no consistent aesthetic that I try to bring to my work. I think it comes out because each project is my own, with potential customers as the only clients. Your description is accurate, and the first time I've heard it put into words. I spent a lot of time building with Legos when I was younger, and stacking rectangles became the design language that I'm still working with.

I'm also attracted to things that quietly but confidently make themselves known; a calm surface that contains tremendous energy. This preference spans everything from music to food to friends. I design things to be as elegant as my ability will allow, but neither too easy nor too perfect. Their energy comes from the slight imperfections and unpredictability and textures, and doesn't have to be directly designed in. There's an ideal level of designer involvement when working with materials — knowing when to hold back and let the design's meaning and energy come through organically is something I'm still learning.

Roth's Planter offers a self-watering mechanism, thanks to the properties of its material: unglazed clay. Roth says the design was inspired by ancient use of the Olla.

Wired: "Quietly but confidently make themselves known?" Can you say more about this? It seems like a lot of your work really foregrounds the materials and the "slight imperfections and unpredictability and textures".

Roth: I'm talking about things that are beautiful and full of energy, but don't care whether or not you notice them — things that are universes unto themselves. Nature is full of them — something as basic as a leaf has an intricacy that's beyond the capabilities of our most advanced manufacturing. Its form neither advertises nor hides its intricacy or its crucial role in the life of the tree. It reveals its beauty to someone who's looking for it, and otherwise remains out of the way. I try to design my products to do the same thing- hang back from a big initial impression with the confidence that an observer's further engagement will be very rewarding.

Roth's speakers are made from porcelain, cork, birch plywood, aluminium and cast iron. Roth says that the sound quality is such that you'll be able to hear the difference between lossy and lossless compression formats.

Wired: When did you decide to move the ceramic subwoofer to production?

Roth: It was always part of the plan. I designed the original system with a subwoofer, but getting the right sound from the sub took longer than expected. The speakers were ready to go, so I released them without the sub, but with the capability to add it later. It's taken almost three years since that launch, but I am finally satisfied with the subwoofer's sound.

Roth's luggage is another design that is not yet in production. It seems less like a traditional suitcase and more like a rolling chest of drawers. Color us extremely curious about how useful it is in practice.

Wired: How do you structure your business?

Roth: My wife and I work together, but all others I work with are contractors. I have a few manufacturing partners with whom I've worked from the beginning, and a great fulfillment team with a warehouse in New Jersey. The warehouse is actually my dad's, which is a huge advantage.

Going from design to production, after the design is finalized, is basically a conversation with my manufacturer that can take months. I send them CAD files, they tell me what can and cannot be made, and how much each component and process will cost. I modify the design, and eventually we move to prototyping. I try to limit the number of prototypes, since this is the most expensive part of development, but some designs require many versions (subwoofer). There is always room for improvement, so once I would feel comfortable hypothetically gifting the product to my grandparents, I move to production and save subsequent improvements for the next version.

With every new manufacturing run, I make a number of improvements to the design. The third version of the Ceramic Speakers will launch this December, and the changes will be substantial. The changes from the original production run to version 2 were subtle however. It depends on the time between manufacturing runs and user feedback/ my implementation.

Roth created this poster for the zeroth issue of Longshot Magazine, which had the theme of "Hustle".

Wired: The poster you made for Longshot (back when it was 48hr Mag) is really striking.

Roth: The poster is a reflection of what I've learned so far, and an ideal that I strive to embody. It's a reminder to myself about how to approach creative work, and I hope that it inspires others who hang the print in their work spaces